VERDI / PUCCINI / PONCHIELLI / SPONTINI
Anita Cerquetti - Recital Anita Cerquetti (soprano) / Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Gianandrea Gavazzeni [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Jun/2019 ] A famous Decca operatic recital, long unavailable, celebrating the thrilling voice and short-lived career of a soprano who set operatic stages alight in the late 1950s. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera recorded in 1962) Joan Sutherland, Carlo Bergonzi, Robert Merill / Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino / Sir John Pritchard [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 15/Mar/2012 ] "Sutherland's performance puts lovely things in the listener's way at every stage" (Gramophone) |
PIETRO MASCAGNI
Mascagni: L'Amico Fritz (Complete Opera recorded in 2022) (Blu-ray) Maggio Musicale Fiorentino / Salome Jicia, Charles Castronovo, Teresa Iervolino, Massimo Cavalletti / Riccardo Frizza,(cond) [ Naxos / Dynamic Blu-ray / DVD - released 17/Feb/2023 ] "Cucchi evokes a lively society, never overstated, of friendship and good cheer...Frizza controls the ebb and flow in masterly fashion. The whole thing is very nicely done." Gramophone Blu-ray of the Month April 2023 |
THE THREE TENORS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Three (3) Tenors In Concert 1990 [The original recording] Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti / Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Zubin Mehta [ Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Original Masters / CD - released 12/Dec/1999 ] This is a special collector's Mobile fidelity gold CD edition. |
THE THREE TENORS
Three (3) Tenors In Concert 1990 [The original recording] Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti / Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Zubin Mehta [ Decca Records / CD - released 12/Dec/1999 ] On the evening of July 7, 1990, an `impossible dream' came true: the three greatest tenors of the day joined forces with an orchestra of 200 musicians against a backdrop of the majestic scenery of ancient Rome. |
DONIZETTI
Don Pasquale (complete opera) / Il campanello di notte (one act opera) Alfredo Mariotti, Anna Maccianti, Alberto Rinaldi, Ugo Benelli / Coro e Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino / Ettore Gracis [ Deutsche Grammophon Opera House / 2 CD - released 1/May/2006 ] "This welcome issue provides a good introduction to two of Donizetti's lighter compositions and at bargain price" (MusicWeb May 2006) |
AMILCARE PONCHIELLI
Ponchielli: la Gioconda (complete opera recorded in 1958) Anita Cerquetti, Franca Sacchi, Mario del Monaco, Cesare Siepi, Giulietta Simionata / Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Gianandrea Gavazzeni [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2019 ] 'To compare Anita Cerquetti's Gioconda with Callas's is a revelation. Cerquetti brings to the role intelligence, musicianship, and an appealing voice' High Fidelity |
DONIZETTI
L'elisir d'amore (Complete opera) Barbara Bonney, Gasta Winbergh, Bernd Weikl, Rolando Panerai. Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Gabriele Ferro [ DG Opera House / 2 CD - released 1/Jul/2005 ] 'A performance that bubbles along as brightly and affectionately as the music itself' BBC Record Review |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Armida (complete opera recorded live in 1952) Maria Callas, Francesco Albanese, Mario Filippeschi / Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin [ Warner Classics Maria Callas Live Remastered / 2 CD - released 1/Feb/2019 ] Rossini is a pillar of bel canto opera, but he was less central to Callas's art and career than Bellini and Donizetti. She performed two of his comic works - Il barbiere di Siviglia and Il turco in Italia - and in 1952, with her mentor Tullio Serafin... |
GASPARE SPONTINI
Spontini: Fernando Cortez (La conquète du Mexique) (complete opera) Dario Schmunck, Alexia Voulgaridou, Luca Lombardo, Gianluca Margheri / Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Jean-Luc Tingaud [ Dynamic / 3 CD - released 1/May/2020 ] Gaspare Spontini's rare opera 'Fernand Cortez' is now available as a triple disc on DYNAMIC. Recorded in October 2019 at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, this production is the first modern times recording of the original 1809 version. |